Our next stop, as we walked
down Park Avenue was at 51st St. and St. Bartholomew's Church. ("St. Bart's"
to New Yorkers). This Byzantine structure with its polychromed gold dome
brought color and variety to Park Avenue in 1919. In the 1960s, St. Bart's
had one of the largest congregations in the Episcopal Church.
http://www.stbarts.org/

St.
Bart's has a Romanesque entrance portico with marble columns
and ornate detail with pinkish brick and open terrace.

We
found these beautiful ornate doors when we entered...

St. Bart's also ministers to those less fortunate by operating a
homeless shelter every night of the year, a soup kitchen serving hundreds
four times each week, and a food pantry.

St. Bart's also operates a
full-service cafe on their outdoor terrace in warm weather, and inside their
community house in winter. Our May temperatures were pleasantly in the 70s
and we enjoyed a delicious lunch at "INSIDE
PARK" at St. Bart's -
http://www.insideparknyc.com/

"Another
fun outdoor lunch in the 'Big
Apple'!"

Next, we took the
Subway to Grand Central Station...

GRAND CENTRAL STATION

Grand Central Terminal is the
best historic building in New York City. This Beaux Arts gem was built in
1913 (the largest train station in the world), saved from destruction
in the 1960s, and beautifully restored in the 1990s.

Karen recalled the movie "The
Untouchables" and the shooting scene on the steps, with Kevin
Costner and Sean Connery. Several other movies feature scenes set in
Grand Central with its soaring ceiling and Beau Arts architecture. Cary
Grant makes his escape from New York City in an exciting sequence filmed at
night inside the station in "North By Northwest".
Robert DeNiro, in the 1988 movie "Midnight Run"
is seen dragging Charles Grodin through Grand Central to catch a train to
Los Angeles. A scene in "The Cotton Club"
shows Richard Gere and Diane Lane boarding the famous Twentieth Century
Limited Train in Grand Central. In the movie "The
Fisher King" is a spectacular scene in which Grand Central
Terminal is transformed into a glittering ballroom filled with waltzing
commuters.

The ceiling over the Main Concourse, with its famous mural of the stars, is
one of Grand Central Terminal's most famous features. However the Zodiac on
the ceiling is depicted backwards. According to official documents, the
painter, Paul Helleu, was inspired by a medieval manuscript that showed the
heavens as they would have been seen from outside the celestial sphere.

Grand Central Station is a
huge place with a very good dining concourse on the lower level, including
Michael Jordan's The Steakhouse, the famous Oyster Bar & Restaurant, the
Campbell Apartment, a glitzy bar and a gourmet food market.

The Grand Central Kissing Room. The Biltmore Room, located on the
grand Concourse across from Starbucks, was known as the "Kissing Room"
during the golden age of train travel during the 1930s and 1940s. The
Biltmore Room was where the famous
20th Century Limited train from the West Coast used to arrive.
Passengers - including many celebrities and politicians - would get off the
train and greet their loved ones here with kisses and hugs. Often, they
would then go up the stairs into the famous Biltmore Hotel (now the Bank of
America building).

20th Century Limited

Leaving Grand Central
Terminal we walked East on 42nd St. to the United Nations Building.